Phoenix Soldier
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Hotaru Tomoe, bookworm, lamp collector, Sailor Soldier...Girl-who-lived? Twelve years ago she was rescued from a chilly November by her 'parents'. Now she has to deal with returning to her true age before Dumbledore tries to reclaim her. Can she survive?
1. Chapter 1

The voice was back. She had been hearing it for years, but it had never been as loud as it was now. And it always said the same thing.

_Go to England._

For years she had ignored it. It didn't sound right. What was in England? And why did the mysterious voice demand that she go?

She shook her head. This wasn't the time to muse about it. Chibiusa-chan was coming again. She was the only girl near her age that would even talk to her.

Everyone else found her creepy, with her bookish habits and mysterious ailment.

* * *

"Hotaru-chan!"Chibiusa cried out upon seeing her. Chibiusa was a strange girl herself. For one thing, she had naturally pink hair that she always put up in rabbit ears. And she had a floating cat head that followed her everywhere named Luna P.

"Konnichiwa, Chibiusa-chan!" said Hotaru.

Hotaru was about five-seven, with neck length straight black hair and deep green eyes. Most people mistook them for a deep blue-green at first glance. Her father once said that her hair used to go all over the place until it grew out.

She could heal small wounds (and black out afterwords) see into the future (had saved her from being run over twice) and could create an impenetrable barrier. Unfortunately, the barrier was iffy at best.

Hotaru smiled widely. Chibiusa had come up with a great idea for them to try. Team Karaoke. Hotaru was all for it, since she had a large music collection.

"And now for our next pair, Chibiusa Tsukino and Hotaru Tomoe!" said the announcer. Chibiusa had found an under-fourteen tournament. The first prize was 100,000 yen and a professional mike.

"_The boundless future stretches across the skies_

_And I am reborn anew_

_I'll make the snow of happiness fall all over the world_

_Destiny is there to be grasped, so stretch out your hands_

_There is no tomorrow which has already been decided_

_Even if you say nothing, I know our meeting _

_that day was no coincidence_

_I sensed eternity in your distant gaze_

_The light of the setting sun is beautiful_

_If the cold wind glimmers_

_I can hear your voice drifting gently_

_Knowing that I am not alone in my heart_

_Warms it so much that it hurts_

_It all begins from the point of believing_

_These feelings are proof of being alive_

_The endless future and expanding skies_

_Allow me to be reborn anew_

_I'll make the snow of happiness fall all over the world_

_Holding hands with you."_

(Opening to Pretear, 'White Destiny')

Chibiusa was up next. She couldn't believe how good Hotaru was. She went up on the stage and cleared her throat before she began to sing.

"_I'm sorry that I'm not honest_

_I can say that in my dreams._

_My thoughts are about to short-circuit._

_I want to see you right now._

_It makes me want to cry, this moonlight._

_And I can't make a call at midnight._

_Because I'm naïve, what should I do?_

_My heart is a kaleidoscope._

_Guided by the light of the moon...  
we meet each other again and again._

_By counting the constellations' blinking..._

_we forecast the outcome of this love._

_We were born in the same country._

_Miracle Romance_

_I believe in it._

_Miracle Romance."_

_(Opening to **Sailor Moon**)_

The crowd was stunned. It was clear that there was a definite tie between Chibiusa and Hotaru. No one could decide which one they liked the best.

"Since there appears to be a tie between these two lovely young ladies, there will be a tie breaker round! The winner shall be chosen by the audience!"

Hotaru looked at Chibiusa. She really didn't care either way who won.

"Hotaru-chan, let's do our best!" said Chibiusa. Hotaru nodded. Whoever won, they would still be friends. Hotaru would go after Chibiusa.

Chibiusa proudly took the center stage and began to sing again.

"_Since I met you..._

_the love shining deep in my heart..._

_is too lonely..._

_so, I quietly closed my eyes._

_Actions that mean nothing..._

_and all those everyday words..._

_Each time I remember them..._

_I feel as though tears were going to fall._

_Right now, baby, baby love._

_Even nights that I cry, someday we can..._

_laugh reminiscing the past._

_That's how I want us to be..."_

_('Wanting to be us', ending of **Sailor Moon Super S.**)_

The crowd cheered it's approval. Hotaru waited to take her turn. She took the stage and began her song.

"_We witnessed the power which has changed our future_

_In our dream_

_In the midst of noise, I heard you cry_

_Which unmasked my weakness as I was laughing_

_Only you know the way to go_

_So chase after a different sky_

_We desire the courage to face toward the future_

_So we get lost in the past_

_I am returning to the very present where you are smiling."_

_(Opening to **Pandora Hearts**)_

It seemed they liked Hotaru's voice over Chibiusa. So much so in fact that they called for an encore. Chibiusa cheerfully pushed Hotaru back onto the stage. Hotaru stumbled slightly, but got up there. Her voice didn't waver as she began to sing again.

"_Stray! Stray!_

_In the cold breeze that I walk along_

_The memories of generations burn within me_

_Been forever since I cried the pain and sorrow_

_I live and die, proud of my people gaining_

_I'm here standing at the edge_

_Starin up at where the moon should be_

_Stray!_

_No regrets 'cause I got nothin to lose_

_Ever stray!_

_So I'm gonna live my life as I choose_

_Until I fall..._

_Stray! Stray!_

_Stray! Stray!_

_In the white freeze, I never spoke of tears_

_Or opened up to anyone including myself_

_I would like to find a way to open to you_

_Been awhile, don't know if I remember how to_

_I'm here waiting on the edge_

_Would I be alright showing myself to you?_

_It's always been so hard to do.._

_Stray!_

_No regrets 'cause I got nothin to lose_

_Ever stray!_

_So I'm gonna live my life as I choose_

_Until I fall..._

_Stray! Stray!_

_Stray! Stray!_

_Stray! Stray!_

_Is there a place left there for me_

_Somewhere that I belong_

_Or will I always live this way... ?_

_Always stray_

_No regrets 'cause I got nothin to lose_

_Ever stray!_

_So I'm gonna live my life as I choose_

_Cause all things fall_

_Stray! Stray!_

_Stray! Stray!_

_Stray! Stray!_

_Stray..."_

_(Opening to **Wolf's Rain**)_

Once she finished, she got her prize. Since it was Chibiusa's idea to join the tournament, she took her friend out to lunch.

* * *

"You're really good at singing, Hotaru-chan!" said Chibiusa over her burger.

"I like to listen to music when I read. Some of it happens to be anime songs," said Hotaru, sipping her ice cream float.

Chibiusa began to discuss which anime was best when Hotaru caught a look at the clock.

"Oh no! If I don't get back soon, Papa will find out I went out!"

They finished their lunch and headed straight for Hotaru's house. Unfortunately, she was caught.

"Hotaru, where were you?" demanded one of her father's assistants.

"I needed some fresh air," said Hotaru timidly.

"You know your father forbade you from leaving the grounds. What if you had passed out?"

Hotaru looked annoyed. She didn't pass out _every_ time she left the school. It was only on rare occasions.

Chibiusa waved to her friend, who was banished to her room for two weeks.

In that time, she felt a surge of malignant power go through her body. She was left gasping for air as the power rushed through her very being.

When it was over, she had to sit down, and try to remain calm. Something had happened. Something big.

She could feel her body slipping out of her control. Whatever was inside her, whatever dark spirit possessed her, was breaking free. Another voice seemed to call out to her. A warm, kind voice that was lonely.

**Do not be afraid. I shall protect you.**

_Who are you?_

**I...am you.**

She lost all control of her body, and watched in horror as the dark being swallowed the pure heart crystal that belonged to Chibiusa.

_NOOO!  
_

She had no control over her body as the malignant spirit took over completely. Her body grew taller and her hair fell to the ground.

"I am Mistress 9. The Messiah of Silence," said the dark spirit smugly.

_No! Bring her back!_ Hotaru cried from inside her soul. The spirit which had seemed warm gently enveloped her. The darkness retreated enough that Hotaru could turn to see what the other spirit looked like.

Her eyes widened in shock. It looked identical to her, only older! There seemed to be a light surrounding her as well.

**I am Sailor Saturn. Your past self.**

_Please, save Chibiusa!_

**I can't. It isn't within my power to save her right now. We need to wait for an opening.**

Hotaru wanted to cry. Her best friend was hurt, almost to the point of death, and she couldn't help her.

_Isn't there anything I CAN do for her? Even if it's a small thing?_

Sailor Saturn looked pensive. There was something she could do, but it wouldn't involve _her_ powers. Rather the power of the body that she inhabited these days. The power...of magic.

**There is something. But to use that would cause more trouble that it's worth.**

_Please! I have to do something! She's my precious friend!_

**Very well. But you will have to live with the consequences sooner rather than later.**

Sailor Saturn took Hotaru's hand. A warm light began to shine. It felt like the sun. The warm feeling enveloped Hotaru completely.

**Find Chibiusa's pure heart crystal. If you can find it and keep it from Mistress 9, then her power would decrease. Not to mention she wouldn't be able to completely absorb it like the others.**

Hotaru sought the crystal out by thinking only of Chibiusa.

_Friendly, kind, warm... she is like the full moon on a dark night. She's always cheerful, and always thinks of others with a calm attitude. She is down to earth, and very warm to be around._

The light began to grow and expand. Ribbons flowed freely from the light, and started to float around. Suddenly one latched onto another light. This was pink and very warm. It felt like an afternoon breeze during the summer.

The light came to Hotaru, and she realized that she had found Chibiusa's crystal.

With the drop in power, Mistress 9 scowled at them. So she decided to play dirty with the scouts. She used Hotaru's voice to rob them of their will to fight.

Sailor Moon couldn't fight Hotaru. She wanted to bring the girl back. Sailor Uranus and Neptune had no such reservations. They wanted to end both Mistress 9 and Hotaru.

Once Mistress 9 had the grail, things went from bad to worse.

Mistress 9 attempted to keep control of the body, but with the combined power of Hotaru's magic and Saturn's power, it was clear that Mistress 9 would be destroyed. Hotaru's light was too strong for such a malignant spirit to survive.

Mistress 9 was blasted out of the body through Saturn's power. The symbol of Saturn, which had lied dormant under the power of Mistress 9, now showed up bright. The dark star of evil had been destroyed.

Saturn's first action once she regained her body was to return Chibiusa's crystal. Otherwise Hotaru would fight her until she did it.

Chibiusa's breathing evened out once she regained her heart's crystal.

Saturn returned to the battle, and fully materialized.

She drew her scythe, and prevent Sailor Moon from entering the dark miasma. She was too weak to survive in it.

* * *

Hotaru was fully awake, and lent her magic to Saturn's own power. The flashes of light from within the darkness were brighter than the moon above. Uranus and Neptune looked in shock. From within the darkness was a bright form, almost the color of the moon itself.

The form finally took form as Sailor Moon transformed in the Savior.

It was a pure white phoenix. Or at least, appeared to be one. The colors that were in the light were so overpowering that they blended into one.

"It can't be... A Star Phoenix?" said Uranus in shock.

"I thought they were all killed by the Negaverse?" said Neptune. Her eyes were wide.

The phoenix trilled, and they felt their energy returning. A Star phoenix had been the symbol of the Royal family for generations.

The phoenix form flew around Super Sailor Moon, giving her the power to enter the darkness.

The black orb, which had been fighting the bright flashes of light, vanished.

Sailor Moon reappeared with a baby Hotaru in her arms. Uranus and Neptune looked in shock, because Hotaru was glowing with the same color as the phoenix.

* * *

_Elsewhere, in England..._

Dumbledore looked up in surprise. His devices which monitored the girl had started going off like mad. They had been silent ever since he left her at her aunt's.

Much to his anger, someone or something had removed her from the doorstep long before Petunia Dursley had found her niece. And that same power had hid her for eleven long years.

Now he had her. His smile widened cruelly. His pawn would return to his grasp very soon. And just in time to face the creature which had lain dormant in the Chamber.

* * *

Setsuna took little Hotaru into her arms. The glow which had worried the others was gone now. But it was still present.

Hotaru had magic. There was no other explanation. The only reason Michiru and Haruka weren't freaking out about that is that Hotaru seemed to possess pure light magic. The only hint of darkness was leftovers from Mistress 9.

Or so they thought.

Hotaru grew like a normal child. She did have accelerated growth spurts, but they assumed it had something to do with the power of the phoenix inside her.

Then one day someone came to their house. Someone who Setsuna refused to allow in.

A man wearing clashing colors and a long beard stood at the door. Michiru sensed something cruel about him. Haruka adjusted her grip on an increasingly fidgety Hotaru. The little girl wanted to get _away_ from the man.

So Haruka hid just outside the kitchen. She caught a word in three, most of it in English of all things.

Hotaru made it very clear she wanted to get as far away from the strange man as possible. When she couldn't, she looked like she was about to start bawling.

Haruka became nervous. The only ones who could calm her down when she started crying her eyes out for no apparent reason were Setsuna and Michiru. Even then, Michiru could only calm her down by playing the violin, and Setsuna had to read to her. She tried to rock Hotaru a bit, hoping to put the girl to sleep.

What happened next came as a surprise.

* * *

_'Are you sure it's safe, leaving her with THEM? I've watched them all day, they are the worst sort of people imaginable!'_

Haruka blinked. Was this a memory of Hotaru?

_The old man's eyes twinkled. They seemed colder than Saturn's eyes, and much more cruel. A larger man was bawling his eyes out. A stern looking woman who could match Setsuna when she was disciplining Hotaru looked worried about something._

_The small bundle shifted slightly, and Haruka could see it was a baby Hotaru. Only she was different from before. Her eyes were an emerald green, her hair went all over the place, and there was a scar of lightning on her forehead._

_The old man placed Hotaru on the doorstep with only a thin blanket and a note._

_Haruka walked up, noticing that none of the three noted her. Which meant this was a memory of the past._

_Her blood ran cold when she read the note._

_**'Petunia, your niece is now your problem. She is not to be adopted, or told of our world. We will come for her in ten years. Under no circumstances is she to be told of anything.**_

_**You are to keep her in the family until she comes of age. I will accept no excuses.**_

_**A.B.P.W.D.'**_

_This man would willingly risk a child with a family who might not want her? And the way he wrote the note...it seemed like he intended to use Hotaru as a pawn in a game of sorts._

* * *

Haruka gasped. Hotaru was now sound asleep in her arms. It seemed showing her the vision had wore her out.

The old man was louder now. It seemed he felt the surge. Haruka held Hotaru closer. There was no way in hell she was going to let that man take Hotaru!

Apparently Setsuna had the same idea, because she stood firmly in his way. Her power as the Guardian of Time was bubbling under the surface. One wrong move from the man, and he would be sent back to the stone ages or worse.

Finally, he went away. But not before a large ball of fire attacked him.

He seemed very surprised to see it there. Setsuna realized it had to be his familiar.

Haruka made sure to keep Hotaru in sight. With a wizard involved, there was no telling what he would pull to retrieve her.

"Haruka, what's wrong?" asked Michiru. Out of the three of them, she had shown the least concern over Hotaru. To show this much worry, something must have happened.

"Hotaru...showed me a vision of her past. That man is trying to use her."

"Was that the temporal flare I felt earlier?" asked Setsuna.

Haruka nodded.

"What did she show you?" asked Michiru.

"That man... he was going to abandon her to someone he didn't know and then pick her up ten years later. The woman told him that they couldn't be trusted, and he refused to listen. And there was this note..."

Haruka told them the contents of the note, and everyone scowled. If the plan had worked, it was possible that the Messiah of Silence would have destroyed everything, and that man would have control of Saturn.

A disastrous thought.

Setsuna came up with a timetable that insured Hotaru wouldn't be left alone for more than a minute. It was all they could do with their powers gone for the moment.


	2. Chapter 2

Hotaru seemed to grow up even faster than normal after the man appeared. Michiru and Haruka were often there to see her spontaneously grow a few months in mere moments before stopping. It was like Hotaru sensed there was danger very nearby.

Then there were the strange moments when she would ask about someone they didn't know. Three uncles with very unusual names.

"Where's uncle Pa'foo, Tawoon and Mooie?" she would ask. Her language skills seemed to need work at the moment.

Setsuna and the others would looked confused, and Hotaru would almost forget she asked. But she would always be very sad when they didn't understand. Finally, when Setsuna couldn't take the sad look anymore, she enlisted the help of Michiru.

Between the two of them, they could perform a water divination as to who Pa'foo, Tawoon and Mooie were.

* * *

Hotaru sat between them, with Haruka holding her in her lap. She placed a hand into the warm water that Michiru had set up, while Setsuna held the bowl.

Images flew past them at random, before they settled.

_Four men and a woman were in a beautiful backyard. There was a small pond that had large enough rocks to prevent Hotaru from falling in._

_One of the men had the same hair color that Hotaru had, while the woman shared her eyes. Her birth parents in this time._

_The others looked like close friends. Well, two of them anyway._

_One had shoulder length black hair and sapphire eyes. Another had worn tawny hair with streaks of gray and amber eyes. The third had long, greasy black hair and dark eyes._

"_So are you staying for lunch Padfoot? Moony?" asked the man who was Hotaru's father._

"_Love to Prongs, but Dumbledore has me recruiting werewolves again," said Moony with a sigh._

"_Count me in! You know I love Lily's cooking!" said Padfoot._

"_What about you, Talon?"_

_Talon shook his head._

"_I have a..."_

"_Very volatile potion to work on," chorused the other three men. Talon glared at them._

_Lily sighed._

"_You know it wouldn't kill you to spend ONE luncheon with us."_

"_No, but it might kill Black," grumbled Talon. He was giving Padfoot a dark look. Lily gave him a look that made him change his mind._

"_I suppose I could stay just this once..." sighed Talon. She beamed at him._

The image broke. The three looked at each other.

"When she asked for Pa'foo, Tawoon and Mooie..." said Michiru in shock.

"She must have meant Padfoot, Talon and Moony," replied Haruka. Hotaru was once again asleep in her arms.

Setsuna looked upset. She recognized three of them.

"It gets worse. I know some of them."

Michiru and Haruka gave her a shocked look.

"Lily and James Potter died eleven years ago. Padfoot will die in three."

"How do you know?" asked Haruka.

"Because he will fall into the Veil of Time while trying to rescue Hotaru."

Hotaru stirred and mumbled something in her sleep.

"_Time is not always set, Setsuna-mama."_

Setsuna took Hotaru, and let her sleep next to her. Hotaru was roughly two years old now, or appeared to be.

* * *

Dumbledore seethed. He hadn't expected to meet the Guardian of Time protecting his pawn. And she definitely recognized him.

Still, it didn't mean that his plan was ruined. Just had to be adjusted. His eyes fell on a certain red head who owned a traitorous rat.

_Perhaps I could nudge things along..._

It would only take some words to rig the next Ministry drawing. And it wasn't like they wouldn't use the money. He smirked cruelly. A loud squawk made him turn and glare at his familiar.

Fawkes had interfered earlier, which angered him. How dare the bird brain try to force him back? He sent another hex at him. Fawkes couldn't avoid it with his leg tied up. The poor phoenix burst into flame and was reborn.

* * *

Hotaru became more restless. She would only sleep properly if she shared the bed with Setsuna or the others. Most nights she would sleep next to Setsuna though.

Then one morning she had anther spurt in a matter of minutes. Only this time it seemed to turn her into a five year old for some reason. She had gone from a happy go lucky three year old to five.

Setsuna knew something big was about to happen. She had noted that Hotaru only grew rapidly when something was about to occur.

(Previous spurts were caused by random things like Michiru getting her favorite flowers, Haruka managing to win four races in a row, and Setsuna discovering a new star.)

Hotaru looked at Setsuna with big eyes and said in almost perfect Japanese "Wanna have a jailbreak?"

She looked at the girl stunned.

"What?"

"Jail break."

Michiru happened to hear this, and gave Setsuna an odd look.

Setsuna had Haruka watch her while she talked to Michiru.

"Something tells me that Sirius Black is about to escape," said Setsuna.

"Why?"

"Because the only person close to Hotaru that is currently imprisoned is her Uncle Padfoot."

Michiru's eyes widened at the implications of this. If he broke out, then the chances were that it would give the wizards an excuse to kill him.

"What can we do?"

Setsuna's eyes glinted. Normally she wouldn't think of this, but after Dumbledore's visit, she would have to take drastic measures.

"We break him out. He can babysit her and give us a break."

Michiru gave her a look.

"He won't hurt her, and he would put her safety above his own. Besides..."

Setsuna looked annoyed.

"He's innocent."

"Fine, but who's going to watch Hotaru while we break him out?"

Haruka made a surprised noise, and they turned. Hotaru was out cold, but standing there behind her was a woman in white. Her red hair and green eyes told them who she was.

"Lily Potter," breathed Setsuna in shock.

"_I can watch her. No one will come near this house until you return," _said the ghost. Only it wasn't really a ghost in the normal sense.

Setsuna looked closer. Lily was dead, and yet she wasn't. That made no sense unless...

"You're a phoenix!" gasped Setsuna.

Lily quirked a smile.

"_Brilliant as always, Lady Pluto. Yes, I am one of the Star Phoenixes from the Moon Kingdom. One of the last around anyway. Imagine MY surprise to find out that my own daughter was a Sailor Senshi."_

Pluto stared in shock at Lily Potter. Never in her dreams would she have believed that the girl was one of the Star Phoenixes.

"What happened?"

"_To the phoenix clan or to me?"_

"Both."

"_When Saturn destroyed everything so it could be reborn, she accidentally took our lives as well. Queen Serenity, who used to Silver Crystal to revive everyone so they could be born again, hadn't realized that fact. As a result, all phoenixes who lived on the Moon were reborn as humans. That included my family."_

The three Outer Senshi were startled. They never knew Saturn's power was used so that everyone could be reborn.

"_As for my human form... Eleven years ago a madman with a torn soul broke into our house to kill my daughter. Between my sacrifice and her powers as Saturn, the curse rebounded on him. The only problem was that it scarred her temporary. However, when Saturn was reborn recently, the soul that had taken refuge in her curse scar was destroyed, and the scar healed over."_

All three Senshi looked at Hotaru with shock. It made sense that Saturn's powers would react well with a phoenix. They were designed for death and rebirth, which is what the phoenix symbolized. The fact that it was her mother casting the spell only aided the bond.

Still, this was bad. Hotaru still carried residual darkness in her soul.

"Can we trust you to keep her safe until we return?" asked Haruka.

"_My blood shield will keep anyone who seeks to remove her without your consent out. There is no chance I will EVER allow Albus to take my daughter to use as a pawn!"_

* * *

Sirius Black was miserable. Tomorrow the Minister of idiots would come by to check on the state of the prison. And once again he would be annoying.

Fortunately the guards who usually came with him tended to bring the Daily Prophet. If he was lucky they would let him have their copy so he could do the crossword.

That usually helped his sanity for about ten months. Then he would become really, really bored.

He leaned back on his filthy mat, and his eyes met with something that made him wonder if he was dreaming.

It was clearly a goddess. Her long silky black hair had hints of a green overtone and her red eyes showed compassion beyond mere humans. She looked to be around his age, or slightly younger.

She said something in a language Lily had bullied him into learning. If only so he could claim that he knew two languages.

"_He's over here. We have to hurry."_

Two other voices reached him. One sounded like a masculine female, another sounded like a soprano.

Two more angels appeared next to the goddess. They looked at him critically, then started to remove the bars.

The dementors either couldn't see them, or he was imaging all this. He really, really hoped that he wasn't imaging the entire thing. That would mean two things, neither of them looked very pleasant.

He was either dying or he had finally lost it.

A small rock pried loose from the bars above fell to his hand. He felt the thump very clearly.

_This is real?_ He dared to hope.

The goddess and angels got the bars loose. Then they lowered a small harness for him to climb in. He did so without speaking. Once he was out of the cell, he saw their transport.

He turned a shaky smile to them and said in his best Japanese, "Arigato, Kami-sama, Tenshi-sama."

The goddess looked like she wanted to laugh. The angels looked very, very surprised at his words. Finally the goddess reigned in her mirth to say in plain English...

"They are not angels, and I am no longer a goddess."

Sirius stared at her in confusion. As they helped him out to their transport, which turned out to be a high speed muggle boat, he whispered to her.

"If you're not a goddess, then am I dead? My imagination couldn't possibly come up with three gorgeous women after being stuck in there for a decade!"

That made the two angels falter. The goddess snickered.

"Like I said before, I am no longer a goddess. My name is Setsuna Meioh. The short haired one is Haruka Tenoh, and the other is Michiru. We're here to rescue you."

"Then either I died and went to heaven, or this is a dream," said Sirius in a honest tone. Both angels blushed. Once he was secured in the boat, they took off.

"Not exactly. We're mostly here to foil a plan by a manipulative old goat," said Michiru. Her English was almost perfect, and barely a hint of an accent. Haruka was steering the boat at unimaginable speeds with absolute control.

"Hotaru asked us to free you."

"Hotaru?" repeated Sirius. It took his mind a second to translate the name. His eyes widened.

He grasped at Setsuna's cloak. His strength was still very weak.

"You know where Chibi Prongslet is?"

Setsuna quirked a smile.

"I suppose it's a good thing to get this out of the way early," she mused.

Haruka smirked.

"He better be worth all this trouble," said Haruka.

"Haruka, don't complain. I know full well how much you've been wanting a fast boat," said Michiru in a chastising tone. Sirius could tell from the way they addressed each other that they were either very, very close or lovers. He was betting on the latter.

"What's going on?" asked Sirius.

Setsuna made sure he understood that she was not making any of this up. When she finished what had happened, he realized the tale was too incredulous to be anything _but_ the truth.

"My goddaughter...is one of the mythical warriors?" he said in shock.

"One of the strongest," said Setsuna.

Sirius gave a bark of laughter. He seemed to take this well enough.

"James' luck always was strange. He managed to draw more trouble in seven years than I had in my entire life. I guess it makes sense that his own daughter would be the same."

That relaxed the girls. It seemed he believed them, and was willing to live with the fact that Hotaru was a Senshi.

"There is one other thing you should be aware of..." said Michiru.

"What more is there? My goddaughter is a warrior from the past, and has enough power to destroy everything."

"A few months ago, she took on a dark power from outside our world. Because of her powers, she had reverted to the form of a child. Recently she's been having growth spurts so she's about five years old or so," said Setsuna.

Sirius' mouth quirked in amusement.

"Well I suppose I can finally make up for lost time."

That made all three of them smile.

* * *

Hotaru was sleeping next to the form of her mother when the door opened. Lily vanished, and Hotaru woke up. Her sleepy eyes alighted on the three forms in the doorway.

"Setsuna-mama, Michiru-mama, Haruka-papa! You're back!" said Hotaru happily, as she raced to them.

Her eyes fell on the smaller figure behind them. It was a male, and very skinny. Almost unhealthy in fact. Her eyes light up in recognition.

"Uncle Pa'foo!"

Sirius Black's sunken eyes lit up. Hotaru remembered him!

Setsuna tsked the girl in a motherly way.

"Now, now Hotaru. We need to relax first. Then you can play with him until bedtime," said Michiru.

Michiru showed Sirius where he could take a bath, and brought some clean clothes out. This would be the first time in eleven years that he had been clean and had a proper meal.

Once he was clean and fed, Hotaru couldn't wait to climb all over him. She had missed him, even if she could only half remember him. Sirius was all too happy to let her.

Setsuna looked in on the adorable scene inside. It would seem that she would be sleeping alone tonight. Hotaru was curled up next to Padfoot and wasn't letting go of his paw. Padfoot was protectively lying around Hotaru. And to top it all off, Setsuna could feel the blood wards that Lily had erected around the house.

There was absolutely no chance Dumbledore would take Hotaru with such a protection over her. And Sirius was a light sleeper after ten years of Azkaban. Any sounds of apparition, and he would wake up in an instant.

* * *

Haruka woke up first the next morning, saw the dog and gave Setsuna an odd look.

"Where is he?"

Setsuna poured her some coffee and grinned.

"Sirius Black is an animagus. That dog is his animal form, which he can switch between at will. It's the reason why he is called Padfoot."

Michiru raised an eyebrow at the scraggy dog, but said nothing.

"It needs a hair cut, bad," was all that she would comment.

Setsuna's eyes lit up in amusement.

"It does, doesn't it. Perhaps we could make it a project for Hotaru today," she said mischievously.

Haruka and Michiru looked at her, and grinned. Both knew Hotaru would love to help trim Padfoot.

* * *

Padfoot howled like the damned when Setsuna and Michiru dragged him to the tub. He only shut up when Hotaru gave him a light tap on the muzzle saying "Bad Pa'foo. You need a bath!"

He whined pitifully, but Haruka unceremoniously picked him up and dropped him in the tub. Hotaru laughed as they took out the flea shampoo and started to scrub. His tail was between his legs.

Once the shampoo did it's job, they began to comb out his matted fur. Hotaru helped by combing his fur. It was very long.

Finally, Setsuna grinned and held up a pair of sharp scissors. They were a blur as she snipped off all the unruly tangles.

When the hair was at least manageable, Hotaru topped it all off with a large robin's egg blue bow on his head.

Padfoot gave them a look of utter betrayal, which set them off. Only Hotaru wasn't laughing at him.

Still, he put up with the humiliation of the bow since Michiru set down a large bowl of hot food.

Once he was full, he played with Hotaru for a few hours until she was completely worn out.

Michiru, Haruka and Setsuna smiled at the scene. It seemed that having Sirius around was therapeutic for both of them.

Hotaru had another growth spurt. Once again she aged another year. Sirius watched all of this in shock.

"You say this is normal for her?" he asked Setsuna.

"It took us a while to realize it's her mother's bloodline kicking in. Apparently Lily possessed an extremely rare and extinct bloodline from the Moon Kingdom," answered Setsuna.

"Eh?"

"Lily is a Star Phoenix. They tend to grow in spurts when they are reborn," said Haruka. (Had found them fascinating and studied them extensively.)

"I thought a normal phoenix grew up in a few hours?" said Sirius.

"Star phoenixes are the rarest kind of all. They can travel between Earth and other planets in mere minutes, and they can take human form for years at a time. Unfortunately, they were all killed and reborn when the Kingdom was destroyed," said Michiru.

"Ah...so she is half human then?" said Sirius.

They nodded slowly. His resulting grin made them curious as to his change in attitude.

"Does that mean she is safe from werewolves?"

"She is immune to werewolf venom, yes..." said Haruka, becoming concerned.

"Moony is going to love hearing that. He always refused to babysit on full moon nights because he was afraid he would accidentally turn her."

The other girls gave Setsuna a look. It did not bode well for her.

"Moony, also called Remus Lupin. He is one of the few werewolves in England who refused to join Voldemort. He is also a very kind, albeit nervous man because of his affliction."

"Sounds about right. He was a major bookworm in school," said Sirius.

He grinned as he allowed Hotaru to climb on his head. There she fell asleep. The girls grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

Remus Lupin looked at the newspaper in horror. Someone had deliberately broke Sirius out of prison. Dumbledore had sent him the paper and a note asking him for help.

Then another owl had arrived. One with a stranger message. It was written in crayon of all things.

'_Dear Uncle Mooie,_

_Uncle Pa'foo said this was the best way to reach you. This owl is really nice! Setsuna-mama said it was okay if you came to the house, and even wrote down directions for me! Come see me soon!_

_Hotaru.'_

What baffled him was that the scent was that off his cub, who had been missing since that night everything fell apart.

What bothered him was that the writing looked like a child had done it. One who was barely in school at that.

He made a decision. He could go to Dumbledore and try to find Padfoot the old fashioned way, or he could skip the meeting and try to see whether his cub had actually written this or not.

Either way, he had a feeling things were about to change.

* * *

Padfoot was nervous, and rightly so. If Remus didn't believe the girls, it was likely that he would end up Kissed before dinner. Or worse...no dinner.

The tell tale sound of apparition went off in the backyard. Setsuna went to greet whoever it was. Her attitude said it all.

"Hello, Remus-san. Welcome to our home."

"Where am I?"

A black streak flew past her, and tackled Remus. His eyes widened in complete shock.

"Uncle Mooie! You came!" cried Hotaru.

"Cub?" he said in complete confusion.

"We have some explaining to do," sighed Setsuna. Remus followed her without a word, but his eyes widened in shock again when he saw Padfoot. He didn't know whether to be angry or laugh, because the old hound had a large pink bow on his neck.

Setsuna looked at him amused.

"Hotaru loves to decorate her uncle," said Michiru, snickering.

Remus was in shock. While he enjoyed the green tea, he still couldn't believe that Sirius was innocent. Until the man finally switched back from Padfoot and said, "Peter was the Secret Keeper, not me."

"What?"

"James and I thought he would be a better decoy. I mean, who would suspect Peter of keeping something like that? Instead the rat gave up James faster than we could blink."

Remus thought back to how Peter was, and saw that they had a point. Who would suspect Peter of being the secret keeper?

"What about those muggles? And that finger they found?"

"The only thing I did was apparate there. The rat cut off his finger and blasted the street."

Remus looked doubtful, but he was willing to believe Sirius. After all, he couldn't smell a lie on him at all.

"Remus, think about it. What would I have gained by telling old snake face where they were? I had already abandoned my family and couldn't stand any of them. And as for money, I could always get a job as an Auror. Besides, I loved James like a brother."

Remus conceded his point. Sirius had almost nothing to gain and everything to lose if he betrayed James and Lily. Peter on the other hand, had more to gain.

He dropped his offensive posture, and Sirius relaxed. It seemed Remus was willing to believe him for the moment.

Hotaru reached her arms up to Moony, and he smiled. He helped her to climb up into his arms.

"Uncle Mooie, where were you all this time?" she asked.

"In England cub."

Then he turned to the girls. They knew what was coming next.

"Now, would someone mind telling me how my cub returned to being six?"

Setsuna finished retelling exactly _how_ Hotaru became a child again when Sirius woke up. Remus couldn't believe that his cub was a Sailor Senshi.

"Wait, you said that Lily drew up the wards around this house. But she can't have done that..."

Lily's spectre appeared behind Remus, and Sirius tried not to laugh. She had done the same to him weeks ago.

She lightly breathed on his neck, and it took all he had not to jump.

"_Boo."_

Remus turned, saw her there, and did the only sane thing he could think of. He fainted.

Hotaru kept poking him with a stick. She turned to Sirius and asked "Is Uncle Mooie sleeping?"

Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"No pup, but he has had a lot to take in," snickered Sirius.

* * *

Remus woke up on a comfortable couch. There next to him was Lily Potter...or her form anyway.

"So it wasn't a dream."

"_Unfortunately no. Remus, has Albus contacted you recently?"_

"He has asked me to help find Sirius. Why?"

"_He wants to use Hotaru. So I have only one question for you now. To whom does your loyalty lie?"_

Remus thought long and hard about that. While Albus had given him a chance to be normal since the attack, James and Sirius had gone far and beyond that.

They had given him a chance for a family. Hotaru had always been his cub since the day she was born, and James only encouraged that thinking.

All Dumbledore did was ruin everything. He had been in charge of convicting Sirius without a trial, and he had no doubt in his mind that the old man was behind Peter becoming a Secret Keeper. At the very least, he should have known Sirius would have never betrayed James.

"I will always side by Hotaru," said Remus finally.

Lily smiled at him, and vanished.

Hotaru carefully opened the door. Remus stared at her. Once she realized he was up, she tackled him.

"Uncle Mooie is up!" she said loudly. Sirius walked in with a grin.

"They thought it would be better to let you talk to Lily before they told you everything at once," he said, holding the food.

Remus quirked a grin. It was obvious that Sirius had been sneaking bites out of the dishes.

Sirius saw his look and appeared sheepish.

"What can I say? Michiru-san is a good cook."

"Hotawu helped!" said the chibi.

The two men laughed.

* * *

Remus turned out to be a godsend. For one thing, he managed to reign in Sirius, which was something they had tried repeatedly to do. Only Hotaru could get him to behave until now.

Remus on the other hand, just whacked the dog upside the head, and he calmed down.

Now if only they could get Sirius to quit teaching the girl how to prank her mamas and papa.

Hotaru had another growth spurt. This time she aged to eight years old. An owl flew in, and they all stared. It wasn't from England, because the letter was in the form of a scroll.

Setsuna read it, and grinned.

"Hotaru, how would you like to take magic lessons here?"

"Setsuna-mama, can I?" said Hotaru happy.

"What kind of magic lessons?" asked Sirius.

"The Japanese Ministry has finally caught up to Hotaru. Her magic had been blocked for so long that they couldn't contact her. But now they are asking to send tutors so she can start her mage training."

"What about her growth spurts?" asked Remus.

"They were made aware of her heritage. So long as she keeps up her studies, they don't care what age she turns into."

Sirius grinned. This would annoy Dumbledore something fierce.

"It says that tomorrow someone would come and see what she would need to learn, and give her options on what she could take," said Michiru.

"Sounds better than Hogwarts. There you only get a small number of classes, and some of them don't suit certain students," said Remus.

"What sort of courses do they offer?" asked Sirius, interested.

Michiru handed him the small list, which gave a very tiny sample of what she could learn.

His eyes widened.

"Think they would object to me joining her?" he asked. Some of them sounded interesting.

Setsuna smiled, and handed him another sheet of paper.

"This was directed to you, by the way."

'Dear Lord Black,

As we have been aware of your presence in our country, we would like to request a meeting to confirm your claim of innocence. You are free to leave, but please note that doing so would harm your chances of staying in this country legally. If you do leave and return, we would have no choice but to arrest you on sight.

Signed Yamata Harado.'

He raised an eyebrow.

"How did they know I was here?"

Haruka coughed.

"We alerted them to you living here a day after the flea bath. It was the only way to keep them off our ass," said Haruka.

Sirius gave her a betrayed look.

"Well thanks to that, Hotaru can take magic lessons," said Michiru.

"In the meantime," said Setsuna, looking at Sirius with an evil look.

He gulped. Last time she had that look, they forced him into a flea bath and put bows in his fur.

Haruka and Michiru caught her look.

"Remus, could you watch Hotaru and Sirius for a while?" asked Haruka sweetly.

He saw the looks they were giving Sirius and smirked.

"Absolutely. Have fun!" he grinned.

Sirius had to be dragged into the room by Remus and Haruka. The girls had gone shopping for clothes. They had even gotten some cute outfits for Hotaru that she wouldn't outgrow for a few spurts.

Hotaru waited outside the room with Setsuna and Michiru, who gave her a few books to read. She had devoured all the ones in the small library already. She squealed with joy when they handed her the manga. Apparently they had noticed her love of the comic books.

* * *

Sirius came out two hours later, looking harassed. Haruka and Remus had conned him into a pair of blue jeans and a form fitting black shirt without sleeves. His long black hair had been tamed with a hair tie, much to his horror.

Haruka thumped him on the back with a smirk.

"Be grateful I didn't have Hotaru do your hair, puppy!" said Haruka. He winced.

Haruka had taken to calling Sirius puppy to annoy him. Remus thought it funny.

There was a knock at the door. Two official looking people stood there.

"I am Matsuda Haruno, and this is my partner Akira Takamaru."

Setsuna nodded. Sirius sat down next to Hotaru and behaved. Though he looked mutinous.

"Uncle Pa'foo, behave!" said Hotaru with a whap of her book.

He looked sheepish, which had the agents looking very amused.

"I take it this is Hotaru-chan?" said Matsuda kindly.

Hotaru beamed, and held out her hand.

"I'm Hotawu. Yoroshiku!"

"Hello Hotaru-chan. My name is Agent Matsuda. Do you know why I am here?"

"Because my magic needs to be trained or it will break loose?" said Hotaru with a cock of her head.

"That's right. I'm here to see what courses you can take, and what classes you would _like _to take."

"Okay."

"I'm Agent Takamaru. I'm here to see if your claim of innocence is valid," said the man to Sirius.

"I have no other proof, but I will submit my memories and take the truth serum if given," said Sirius.

He nodded, and took Sirius into another room. An hour later, they returned. Sirius looking considerably happier. His innocence had been proven, at least enough that he could legally stay with Hotaru and take classes.

Hotaru on the other hand, was receiving some weird looks from the other agent.

"I have never encountered a child who could take both healing classes and black magic classes at the same time. Normally they can only take one and learn the other later in life," said Matsuda in shock.

Setsuna gently touched her shoulder.

"Hotaru has the blood of a phoenix in her."

That cleared up most of Matsuda's confusion.

"Bloodline inheritance explains most of the readings I am getting. So what would you like to take, Hotaru-chan?"

Hotaru took out her crayon and began circling classes almost at random. Once she was done she proudly held up her selections.

Matsuda gave her an odd look.

"Are you sure you want to take this many?"

Hotaru nodded with a smile.

"I'll see what we can arrange. But the workload will be enormous, especially for someone who is trying to catch up to their previous age," said Matsuda.

The two left, and a week later another owl flew in. It had two letters.

One was for Sirius, which held all the documents which pretty much said he was allowed to go about freely as long as he was in Asia or the Americas. Apparently they had sent word to everyone else, and only Europe had refused to believe their testimony.

The other was Hotaru, confirming her magic lessons, and basically outlining a rough schedule.

It was set so she could get a lot of training in a short amount of time. Since her odd spurts couldn't be timed, she would get some rather unusual training.

She would learn from a time stop. With a time stop, she would learn three months of magic in a single day. While it wouldn't allow her to interact with her peers, she would eventually catch up with others her own age.

Michiru took a look at her courses. Her eyes raised when she read one of Hotaru's classes.

"Water divination?"

Setsuna saw who would be teaching it and grinned.

"And look who the sensei is," she grinned.

Michiru read ahead and gasped.

"They want me to teach you how to use water?"

"You _are_ Sailor Neptune," Haruka reminded her.

"But I don't have any magic!"

"No, but our powers can be confused for such," said Setsuna.

Sirius grinned.

"Trust me, you can't possibly be any worse than that old bat Trelawny. Half the time she's stoned, and the other half she's making it up," said Sirius.

"Well, since this is a special occasion, why don't we have a party?" asked Haruka. She had a special treat in mind.

Michiru shot her a look, as if she knew what her lover had in mind.

"Remus, why don't you take Hotaru and Sirius to the amusement park? Get some of their energy out," suggested Setsuna.

Remus looked at the two, remembered how hyper they could get and winced.

"Agreed. When should we come back?"

"We'll call Hotaru. She has her communicator around her wrist," said Setsuna. She had specifically gotten the little girl one, and had disguised it as a watch. (One that read the correct time no matter what time zone she was in.)

* * *

Dumbledore was furious. Remus, Sirius and his pawn were out of his control. The devices which monitored his pawn were spinning madly with no chance of stopping.

McGonagall was furious with him, and the others were becoming suspicious as well. They hadn't taken the news that Lilith Firefly Potter wasn't going to attend this year or possibly the next very well.

Even Severus was annoyed. And he still despised the spawn of Potter.

(Dumbledore had been slipping animosity potions in his food for years. There was little chance that Severus would see the child as the daughter of Lily and not James.)

Still, he had to be careful. His plans would be for nothing if any of the staff caught wind of it.


	4. Chapter 4

Hotaru was laughing as Remus and Sirius both looked very queasy. She had conned them both onto a roller coaster that tended to go upside down and spinned around a lot. She had a stronger stomach than the two of them.

Then again, the looks of absolute terror on their faces when the picture was shot made her laugh. She could vaguely hear the laughter of her mother, who would probably had died over again from laughing so hard.

Hotaru made sure to buy the photo to show to her mamas and papa later. They would definitely love it.

"What next, Chibi Firefly?" asked Sirius weakly.

Remus finally managed to stand without throwing up.

"How about that one?" asked Hotaru.

It was a sane ride for children. The teacup ride. Both of them agreed on it immediately.

Unfortunately for them, Hotaru knew something about those rides that they didn't. The little wheel in the center was for more than decoration.

Her evil grin was missed by both of her uncles.

"Enjoy the ride!" said the attendant with a grin. Hotaru smirked back.

Sirius and Remus got into the teacup with a sigh of relief. They thought they could get their bearings while Hotaru had fun. That is, until they saw the evil look in her eyes.

The ride started, and they had no way off.

Hotaru firmly grasped the center disk, and within seconds the cup began to spin...

Sirius and Remus wept with relief, kissing the ground as soon as the ride was over.

Hotaru was definitely the daughter of James. She had them in the spinning monstrosity for five whole minutes. And she had cackled the entire time.

"Please, Cub, no more..." said Remus.

"Chibi Firefly, take pity on us!" whined Sirius.

"Ice cream?" she said hopefully.

They looked at each other, and took her to get ice cream. If only so she wouldn't get them on another hellish ride.

Hotaru ate her chocolate ice cream with relish. She was enjoying her day with her favorite uncles. (Even Saturn was having some sadistic fun with them.)

Remus and Sirius were trying to recover from the rides. Remus had ordered a double chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce. Sirius had gotten a sedate vanilla cone.

"What should we do next, Uncle Moony and Padfoot?" asked Hotaru. Her speech had gotten better with the last growth spurt.

"No more spinning rides, please!" Sirius begged.

"Can we play games instead?" asked Remus.

Hotaru smiled and laughed. Remus and Sirius were more than happy to play the games around the park, if only to keep her from dragging them on another ride.

It turned out she had better luck than they did. She kept winning stuffed animals and other paraphernalia based off of anime and manga.

She was happy as a lark.

Suddenly her watch went nuts. Hotaru pushed a button and Setsuna's face appeared.

"_You guys ready to come home?"_

"Aw...I was hoping to go on one last ride!" said Hotaru.

Setsuna tried not to laugh at the horrified looks on Sirius and Remus' faces.

Sirius almost seemed to be praying that Hotaru was joking.

Until Hotaru turned her puppy eyes of doom on them. They had no choice. They had to submit.

"Just one more. But nothing that goes upside down, spins, or awful drops," said Remus firmly.

Hotaru pouted. Then her eyes lit up!

"Let's go!" she started to drag her uncles to another section of the park.

"Log ride?" read Remus.

The ride seemed simple enough, and it didn't have that much of a drop to it. Sirius and Remus sighed in relief. Hotaru _wasn't_ try to kill them in the most unlikely way possible.

They didn't notice her evil glint at all.

Hotaru sat behind Remus and in front of Sirius, and was still grinning. All of their prizes were at the desk.

Hotaru had calculated the amount of water that would splash on them, but with Sirius behind her and Remus in front, they would get the worst of it.

Without warning, the log dropped down the chute. Remus sputtered as the water splashed into his mouth. Sirius squawked as he felt the cold water hit him dead on.

Hotaru was giggling madly. Remus and Sirius were both getting soaked!

Once the log finally stopped at the way station, the three got off. Sirius and Remus were absolutely drenched. Hotaru was only mildly wet.

They picked up their prizes and headed home. Remus drove, since Sirius still couldn't get a handle on how to drive in a car. (Motorcycle yes, car no.)

Of course there had been an amusing race between Haruka and Sirius one time when she bought a set of motorcycles. Setsuna had taped the whole thing, and the loser had to pay the ticket the cops had given both of them.

(Much to everyone's surprise, Sirius had won that race. Still, he did pay for both of their tickets anyway.)

When they got to the mansion, both were shocked.

Michiru and Setsuna had gone all out. And Haruka had bought something that had the men cheering.

Brooms.

Once everyone was stuffed, Sirius decided to show the girls how to play Quidditch. Though they used regular balls instead of the magical ones for obvious reasons.

Remus watched with amusement on the ground with Michiru. He shook his head in disbelief.

"It looks like Chibi Firefly inherited her father's gift with the game," said Remus. He sipped his earl gray calmly.

"Oh?"

"James was the seeker for Gryffindor. And from what I can see, Hotaru could possibly be better than he was."

Hotaru swooped around with natural ease. Sirius only had to show her how to grip it properly and she took off. She loved the feeling of flight.

"Hotaru, catch!" said Setsuna. Hotaru caught the small ball with ease. Sirius grinned.

* * *

Hotaru was sound asleep, and Padfoot was curled up beside her. He twitched occasionally, as if chasing something. Remus was downstairs, preparing for the rather painful transformation.

Setsuna was getting ready for class tomorrow, and the others were in their room. She didn't care to know what they were doing.

Suddenly there was a crash. Setsuna was the first one outside. Sirius wasn't far behind her.

Standing there was a man. A very strange man with many scars, a wooden leg, and an electric spinning eye.

"Damn. He must have contacted Moody," said Sirius.

"Where's...?" asked Setsuna.

"She's with Moony."

She nodded, then turned to the wizard. He looked very annoyed.

"I'm only here to retrieve the girl. But I have no objections to capturing the traitor to be Kissed," growled Moody.

Haruka and Michiru came out. They looked angry.

"What's going on?"

"Dumbledore sent another lackey to retrieve Chibi Firefly," growled Sirius.

Moody went to fire a spell. That is, until something white trapped him.

The cry of a phoenix was heard, and they saw a large white bird fly around Moody. It ensnared him completely, and all his spells rebounded on himself. He took the hint and stopped casting.

"Haruka, call the Ministry. Sirius, check on Moony and Hotaru. I'll deal with him," said Setsuna, angry.

The others went inside. No one wanted to see what an angry Setsuna would do.

"Now, Alastor Moody... What did Dumbledore promise you to retrieve Hotaru?"

"I was sent to get Lilith Potter, not this Hotaru," said the man with a scowl.

"There is no Lilith Potter here. Only Hotaru Tomoe."

Moody scowled at her, and refused to say anything else. Matsuda and Akira arrived to arrest him for trespassing without the proper passports, among other things. They nodded to Setsuna, who went to check on Hotaru.

She stared. Hotaru was older again. It seemed the attack had triggered another spurt. She was now roughly nine years old.

"Setsuna-mama, who was that man?" asked Hotaru.

"Just an old man who was being tricked," said Setsuna.

Hotaru went back into an uneasy sleep next to Sirius and Moony. This was one of the few nights Moony had forgotten his potion. Not that it mattered, since Moony regarded Hotaru as his cub, so he wouldn't bite her.

* * *

Hotaru progressed in amazing ways. Her magical training had gotten farther than even her teachers had hoped. Right now she was on par with a second year at Hogwarts.

Soon she would be at the same level as her real age. Her birthday had passed quickly, but with a lot of fanfare in the mansion. Michiru and the others had gone all out. And Sirius had gotten her a special treat. Her own familiar!

It was a snowy owl that she named Hikari. The owl seemed to think of Hotaru as her own nestling.

October came and went peacefully, if one didn't count the rather interesting costumes Hotaru made Sirius and Remus wear. She had gone out in a tiger costume, while Remus had been turned into a large wolf. Sirius was the most unlucky in this department.

Somehow, someway, Hotaru had tricked him into a large teddy bear costume. And she had hit him with a sticking hex that wouldn't wear off for hours. Michiru and Setsuna had used the chance to take a lot of pictures.

(Hotaru heard her mother laughing at Sirius again.)

Hotaru had managed to get more candy than anyone else for one simple reason. Remus had given her an expandable bag for her birthday last month.

People would believe that she had started with their house first, and her puppy eyes would do the rest. Sirius couldn't believe how much candy she got.

(It nearly filled her rather large room. Remus kept coming in to steal her chocolate, to her amusement.)

* * *

November came, and Setsuna was in a good mood for once. Hotaru was finally calming down, Sirius had gotten his pranking mood out of his system, and Remus had gone to visit the local werewolf pack. Haruka and Michiru were currently overseas together for a violin concert.

It was peaceful and more importantly quiet for once. She took that chance to observe the stars for trouble.

And found more than she hoped for. It seemed something bad was heading their way. And to make it worse, they couldn't transform a the moment.

Hotaru got up and picked up another book from their increasing library. Setsuna still didn't know _how_ the girl managed to hold on to everything she had collected before now. Her books, lamps and outfits from living with her stepfather had been mysteriously spared from the explosion.

(Not so mysterious actually. During the time Saturn was stuck inside Hotaru's body while Mistress 9 was in control, she moved everything the girl owned to her castle back on Saturn. When the explosion occurred, only things Hotaru wouldn't miss were destroyed in the blast. Not that she would tell Setsuna that.)

Everything seemed to be calm for a change. Even Lily was taking a minor nap from protecting the house.

Hotaru suddenly stiffened. This wasn't a growth spurt. Setsuna went to the girl, and stared in shock. This wasn't Hotaru.

It was Saturn.

"_Trouble is coming soon. Prepare yourself, Pluto,"_ said Saturn.

She blinked, and her eyes went back to normal.

"Setsuna-mama?"

"It's nothing Hotaru. Would you like me to get you the computer?"

Hotaru brightened. She had an insatiable appetite for reading. So Haruka had done something to keep her from being too bored while they were busy.

She introduced Hotaru to something she learned about offhand from one of her old friends. Something called...fanfiction.

Hotaru had taken to the site Haruka introduced her to. She even had her own screen name.

_ShizukaSenshi. _(Silent Warrior)

The others had a definite sense of foreboding whenever they heard Hotaru cackle while reading.

Once Hotaru was set up, she went to reading. Every once in a while she would click on something, or add it to her favorites list. Setsuna had only set down one rule.

Nothing rated M was allowed on the list unless she read it first. Hotaru was more than happy to agree to that.

* * *

_December_

Hotaru was eager for Christmas. Sirius was too, since Setsuna had caved into his begging.

They were going on vacation to the Caribbean. Sirius was paying, and all of them were going. Setsuna had sworn never to let the man watch _Pirates of the Caribbean_ again.

(To be fair, Sirius did take to the movie a little too much. He wouldn't quit acting like Jack Sparrow until Setsuna had threatened to give him a flea bath with a shampoo that stung. After that he just irritated her with 'Argh, me mateys!' at random moments.)

Remus dreaded having to deal with a stir crazy Sirius and Hotaru. The flight alone would take sixteen hours, and he knew that the two of them hated sitting still for that long.

So he concocted a plan with Michiru and Setsuna. They would slip a minor dreamless sleep potion that would wear off before they landed when they got too bad to handle.

Which didn't happen until four hours into the flight. Sirius and Hotaru had grown bored by then, which is when Remus took his queue from Setsuna and waited until the waitress gave them something to drink.

He slipped the potion smoothly into their sodas, and waited for it to take effect.

Sirius woke up an hour before they landed, and glared at Moony. Then he saw past him through the window. He grinned and woke up Hotaru.

Hotaru stared out the window in pure joy. They were so high up that the buildings looked like toys. Setsuna and the others woke up to her excited squeal. Once they realized she was too excited to be a menace, they let her enjoy the view.

Once the plane landed, Hotaru had to be held back by Haruka. At least until they could get their luggage. Most of it was in their backpacks, which Sirius had charmed with a permanent expansion. The only thing the x rays saw was clothes.

* * *

Hotaru turned out to be a natural at surfing. The only one who could teach her was Haruka, and even she had trouble with it. Setsuna, Remus and Sirius were all sunbathing while Michiru was swimming.

Sirius turned to Setsuna and asked lazily, "So why did Hotaru think January sixth was her birthday?"

Remus looked up from his book. He had been wondering the same thing, but never thought to ask.

"Because the adoption papers that Professor Tomoe had signed didn't go through until that day. When I learned that Hotaru was the girl-who-lived, I went and asked him the same thing."

"How is he, by the way?"

Setsuna looked mildly disturbed.

"Mistress 9 and Pharaoh 90 did a number on his psyche. He seems to be under the impression that the accident never happened and keeps asking where his wife is. According to him, since they had no actual idea when her birthday was, they celebrated the day she officially became theirs as her birthday."

"And how did her middle name become her first?" asked Remus.

"When they first found her, she showed an interest in fireflies, so the name stuck."

"I suppose I can live with her believing that the Tomoe family is hers so long as she knows who her birth parents are," said Sirius.

Finally Hotaru got tired of surfing and played in the sand for a while. It didn't take much coaxing by the girl to convince Sirius to lie in the sand.

Though it did take Remus and Haruka to dig him out. Hotaru apparently didn't realize that she had essentially buried her uncle under a foot of sand in all directions.

Michiru was more than happy to help the girl build a sand castle.

All in all, a successful vacation.

Hotaru had another growth spurt. This time it turned her into an eleven year old.

The trigger this time happened to be the eclipse that occurred. Her eyes slipped into Saturn for the duration of the event, though only Setsuna noticed.

A week later, Setsuna took Hotaru on a shopping spree in the bookstore that she liked so much.

"Hotaru, what happened during the eclipse?" she asked.

Saturn took over and picked a few books before she said _"Elysion __was attacked. A dark presence is going to endanger the girls, and the Outer Circle shall be called back into action."_

"Our powers will return?"

"_No. The power of the Outer Senshi shall receive a boost from the seeds of the stars. Helios shall protect the Princesses until we are needed. But until that time we need to prepare."_

"Prepare for what?"

"_The old man has not been idle."_

"What can we do?"

Saturn smirked. Setsuna had a premonition of England's demise if Dumbledore ever succeeded in capturing her.

"_Tell Uncle Sirius to start teaching me from his family library. I am not going to be a Light poster child for an idiot who thought that leaving a child on a cold November night was acceptable."_

"I've been meaning to ask about that. How _did_ you see that note?"

"_Those weren't my memories. They were Lily's. She just borrowed my power to show Haruka."_


End file.
